Today I kicked off my ‘One Book a Month’ campaign.
MY MISSION: To support booksellers by buying one book a month from a local bookshop.
THE RULES: The book must come from a real life book shop. Amazon and charity shops (my usual haunts) are strictly out of bounds.
Today the bookshop in question was One Tree Books in Petersfield, a magical bookshop/café which had copies of my book on display!
So, which book did I buy to kick off my campaign?
Well, as we know, books are special things; choosing the right one is not to be taken lightly. Usually I deploy my in-built book-detecting radar for this task. I simply tune in and know which book is the right one to buy.
But today my radar was feeling under pressure and it got all self-conscious and refused to work. As a result, I wandered round the shop for ages, picking up umpteen books and umming and ahhing.
It finally twitched when I spotted The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness. I adored The Knife of Never Letting Go so as soon as I saw Patrick’s name on the cover, I knew this was The One. (Plus it had a groovy design, which I am sucker for, never mind the book’s content.)
Here’s the jacket blurb:
THE EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS EVERYDAY
George Duncan is a good man. Perhaps a little too good, at least according to his ex-wife. When he awakes one night to the noise of a magnificent, wounded crane in his garden, he little suspects that, in answering its cries and saving the bird, he has opened up his own life to an extraordinary magic.
The next day a beautiful woman appears, transforming not only George but everyone around him. But love does strange things, and passion is never simple. Something George is about to find out, whether he likes it or not.
A reviewer said, “This is quite simply one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.” And Times Magazine describes Patrick Ness as “An insanely beautiful writer.”
So ‘beautiful’ is what I am expecting.
The first line of the book bodes well:
“What actually woke him was the unearthly sound itself – a mournful shatter of frozen midnight falling to earth to pierce his heart and lodge there forever, never to move, never to melt – but he, being who he was, assumed it was his bladder.”
Katherine Bassford 
What a starting line! Hope it’s a good read. I’ve nearly finished reading Endal, which is good but has been a little bit close to home. x
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I know, a book has to have a great first line. What’s Endal??
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Endal is a true story about a dog called Endal who was trained by the Canine Partners charity and then was assigned to a man called Alan Parton who had severe head injuries and memory problems (and family problems too as a result). Endal was such a talented dog that he changed Alan’s attitude to the world, improved his memory and helped reunite his family. Endal became a very famous dog and was on TV lots and travelled the world with Allan. It was a good read, although not pleasant at times. One of my friends recommended it to me.
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That sounds like an inspiring read, I’m going to look it up. Thanks Richard.
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P.S. Forgot to say – thank you for buying my book. Hope you enjoy it!
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What a great start to your campaign. It certainly inspired me to have a look for a potential purchase.
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That’s great news Mr P, thank you for commenting!
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Hmmmmm, what a great idea. I want to do this too!
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Hurrah! The more the merrier. Please spread the word. Oh, and if you do do it, feel free to send me a photo of you buying your book (along with the bookshop/book title etc) and I’ll put it on my blog with a link to your site. It would be great to have a little montage of people who have joined the cause and are all buying books from their local shops.
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